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Tag: Advertising

ChatGPT Ads: Eye-Opening, Immediate, and Here to Stay

Recently, I’ve noticed something fascinating — ChatGPT ads have started making their presence felt, and they’re not hiding in the background. They’re right there from the start, catching users’ attention straight away.

It seems OpenAI’s approach to advertising within ChatGPT is evolving. Currently, ads pop up for signed-in desktop users in the U.S. based on findings from AI ad intelligence firm Adthena. It’s quite a shift from earlier expectations.

The biggest twist? Many thought ads would only show up after longer conversations. However, that’s not the case. Imagine asking, “What’s the best way to book a weekend away?” and seeing a sponsored message immediately. That’s the reality.

What do these ads look like? They’re marked by a brand favicon and a clear “Sponsored” label, a departure from the initial designs OpenAI shared publicly.

Why does this matter to us? ChatGPT ranks among the top sites globally, and advertising integrated into its responses indicates a major development in AI monetization. It could change how brands connect with consumers right when they’re seeking information.

Reading between the lines, the fact that ads are triggered by single, intent-driven prompts shows OpenAI sees these interactions as valuable ad space. This is a significant move for advertisers figuring out where to allocate their budgets.

The bottom line is clear — the era of ChatGPT advertising has quietly kicked off. As a marketer, I now understand it’s not about questioning the need for an AI search strategy anymore. It’s about asking if I’m already behind.

The first glimpse of these ads came from Adthena’s CMO, Ashley Fletcher, shared on LinkedIn.

Inspired by this post on Search Engine Land.

February 19, 2026
Master Performance Max Ads with Microsoft’s Advanced Learning Path
I was thrilled to learn that Microsoft Advertising has introduced a new Performance Max learning path. This offers marketers the tools they need to run more effective campaigns and to demonstrate their verified expertise.

A fresh applied learning path designed by Microsoft Advertising aims to enhance our ability to optimize Performance Max campaigns through practical, scenario-based training, moving beyond just theoretical knowledge.

What’s happening: This innovative learning path consists of three sequential courses focusing on real-world setup, optimization, and troubleshooting. It empowers us to learn at a comfortable pace, while directly applying newly acquired skills to current campaigns.

The courses address various levels of expertise, ranging from beginner fundamentals to advanced strategies and credentialing.

What’s included:

Course 1: Foundations
- This course introduces the essentials of Microsoft Advertising Performance Max campaigns.
- It’s an ideal starting point for beginners seeking to understand the workings of PMax campaigns.
- The course emphasizes core concepts and terminology.
Course 2: Hands-on setup
- This course offers a guided walkthrough for setting up Microsoft Advertising Performance Max campaigns.
- Perfect for advertisers launching their initial PMax campaign or requiring a skill refresh.
- It provides a step-by-step guide for campaign creation and addresses common setup queries.
Course 3: Advanced implementation
- This course delves into implementation and optimization through scenario-based learning.
- It’s tailored for advanced users enhancing their strategic and optimization skills.
- It includes practical resources like checklists, videos, and reusable reference materials.
How it works: A standout feature of the third course is its embedded support options, which allow learners to access specialized educational resources mid-assessment via the “Help me understand” feature. This enables contextual review before returning to the questions.

The benefit: This design allows us to spend extra time on challenging areas while breezing through familiar content.

Credential payoff: Completing the advanced course gives us the opportunity to earn a Performance Max badge. This badge is a mark of proficiency in implementing and optimizing PMax campaigns, reinforcing the application of best practices.

The badge can be digitally shared and verified using Credly, which makes showcasing on professional platforms like LinkedIn easy.

Why we care: Microsoft Advertising is making it more streamlined and effective to gain practical skills needed for running successful Performance Max campaigns. This is more than just theoretical training; it’s grounded in practical scenarios that help us avoid common pitfalls, optimize with confidence, and elevate performance in live accounts.

Additionally, acquiring this shareable credential adds significant professional credibility, highlighting our proven expertise to clients and employers alike.

The bottom line: The new learning path is committed to bridging the gap between training and practical implementation. By integrating applied scenarios, embedded support, and credentialing, it offers advertisers a comprehensive path to build and demonstrate confidence in managing Performance Max campaigns.

Inspired by this post on Search Engine Land.
February 18, 2026
Perplexity’s Bold Move: Choosing Trust Over Advertising

Recently, I learned that Perplexity has decided to halt its advertising initiatives. The company started experimenting with sponsored placements back in 2024, but now they’re stepping back, believing these ads might jeopardize the trust that users place in their AI answer engine.

I read the Financial Times report stating that Perplexity phased out the ads and currently has no intention of reintroducing them. It’s an intriguing approach considering the rapid evolution of AI search companies.

As someone who utilizes AI-driven platforms, I find it important to monitor these changes. If Perplexity stays ad-free, brands miss out on direct paid access to a growing audience. Imagine how brands must navigate a landscape with 780 million monthly queries without the option for sponsored placements.

Perplexity was pioneering in testing ads, placing sponsored answers beneath chatbot responses. They claimed these ads were clearly labeled, ensuring they didn’t affect the quality of information. Yet, it’s evident that perception is as crucial as policy for them.

From my perspective, the notion that users might doubt the integrity of responses if ads appear is understandable. One of Perplexity’s executives mentioned that maintaining users’ belief in receiving the best possible answer is paramount.

It’s worth mentioning that while Perplexity opts out of ads, other platforms are diving in. For instance, OpenAI is testing ads in ChatGPT for free users, and Google is running ads in AI Mode within Search, although not in Gemini. Meanwhile, Anthropic is committed to keeping Claude ad-free, which reflects different strategic approaches in the industry.

Sustainability in business is key, and Perplexity sees subscriptions as its core model. They offer both free and paid plans ranging from $20 to $200 monthly, boasting over 100 million users and approximately $200 million in annual revenue. This model reflects their focus on accuracy and providing the truth, minimizing conflict of interest.

Despite launching shopping features, Perplexity doesn’t take a transaction cut, aligning with their cautious stance on revenue models that might undermine trust.

For more detailed insights, one could explore the full report from the Financial Times, though it’s a subscription-based service.

Inspired by this post on Search Engine Land.

February 18, 2026
Unlocking Ad Success: Meta Integrates Manus AI into Ads Manager

I’ve just learned that Meta has begun embedding Manus AI directly into Ads Manager, a move that drastically simplifies the way we handle reporting, research, and campaign optimization.
What’s happening: If you’re like me, you might have noticed prompts encouraging us to activate Manus AI within Ads Manager. Exciting, right?
Manus is available for everyone through the Tools menu, and some of us are also seeing pop-ups suggesting we try it as we work.
This rollout suggests even more integration in the future.
What is Manus: Manus AI acts like a supercharged assistant within our ad workflow, capable of handling tasks such as report creation and audience research.
Why it matters: By placing AI-driven automation tools directly in our hands, Manus AI speeds up key processes such as report building and audience analysis, making our campaigns more efficient.
Meta is keen on linking its AI investments to better ad performance, offering us the chance to tweak workflows for maximum gains.
The bigger picture: Meta feels the heat to showcase tangible benefits from its AI investments. By weaving Manus AI into our daily tools, it’s easier to see how AI can boost performance.
Looking ahead: This move is in line with Mark Zuckerberg’s vision to integrate AI throughout Meta’s products. By promoting Manus as an ad performance booster, Meta aims to enhance ad results and strengthen its financial narrative.
The takeaway: For us advertisers, Manus offers another layer of automation to explore. Early adopters might find significant time and efficiency savings as Meta ramps up its AI capabilities.

Inspired by this post on Search Engine Land.

February 17, 2026
AI Revolutionizes Digital Advertising by 2026: What You Need to Know

As I look ahead to 2026, Google’s innovative strides in AI are truly reshaping digital advertising and commerce. Thanks to the leadership of Vidhya Srinivasan, VP/GM of Ads & Commerce, AI is significantly enhancing the shopping and advertising landscape, making it more efficient and personalized for everyone involved.

Key Trends:

Creators to commerce: In my experience, YouTube is increasingly becoming a go-to platform for discovery, largely because creators act as influential tastemakers. AI plays a pivotal role in pairing the right creators with brands, transforming influence into tangible business outcomes.

Search ads evolve: With conversational and visual searches gaining popularity, AI Mode is revolutionizing ads to seamlessly integrate into the user’s discovery process. Innovative formats like sponsored retail listings and Direct Offers are crafted to assist users in their shopping journey while offering brands meaningful conversion opportunities.

Agentic commerce arrives: Through Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), AI-driven shopping experiences are becoming standardized. This advancement allows users to browse, purchase, and finalize transactions effortlessly. Early adopters like Etsy and Wayfair have already started using this system, with giants like Shopify, Target, and Walmart soon joining the bandwagon.

AI-powered creative and performance: I’m thrilled to see how tools powered by Gemini 3 are enhancing creative production and campaign optimization. Generative platforms like Nano Banana and Veo 3 help advertisers produce high-quality assets swiftly, while AI Max boosts reach and performance.

Trust as a foundation: It’s reassuring to know that each advancement prioritizes privacy and security. Strong data management practices, alongside transparent ad personalization, are founded on Google’s legacy of trust.

Why we care: 2026 is poised to be a groundbreaking year, with AI enhancing every facet of the consumer journey. With cutting-edge tools like Gemini 3, Nano Banana, Veo 3, and AI Mode, brands like mine can efficiently create superior content, target the perfect audience, and seamlessly convert interest into purchases during search and discovery.

The advent of agentic commerce through UCP presents a novel approach, connecting advertisers to consumers at critical purchasing moments, all while preserving trust and transparency.

The big picture: The year 2026 heralds an expansive era for digital commerce and advertising, where the fusion of speed, personalization, and AI-driven insights eliminates barriers, facilitating smoother transitions from discovery to purchase while keeping trust paramount.

Dig Deeper: Discover what’s next in digital advertising and commerce by 2026

Inspired by this post on Search Engine Land.

February 11, 2026
Discover How Ads Enhance Your ChatGPT Experience
On the OpenAI podcast, I recently listened to Andrew Maine as he spoke with OpenAI executive Assad Awan. During their conversation, Awan shared insights into how ads are being introduced to ChatGPT, who will see them, and the measures in place to protect user trust.
Who will see ads:
Ads will be visible to users on the Free and Go tiers. As for Plus, Pro, and Enterprise subscribers, they will not encounter ads in their interactions. Additionally, Enterprise workspaces are staying completely free from advertisements.
The guardrails: Awan highlighted that OpenAI is committed to structuring ads with strict trust principles in mind.
- Separation: Ads are distinctly separate both visually and technically from the model answers.
- Privacy: Conversations are not shared with advertisers, ensuring privacy is upheld.
- Sensitive topics: Discussions on health, politics, and other sensitive subjects will never be interrupted by ads.
- Controls: Users have the ability to adjust ad personalization settings or even upgrade to remove ads entirely.
Awan also mentioned that the AI model itself is not aware of when ads are present and will only reference them if directly queried by a user.
Zoom in. OpenAI emphasizes prioritizing user trust over other factors such as user value, advertiser value, and revenue. This framework is designed to prevent ads from influencing the model’s responses.
For small businesses. Awan envisions a future where AI simplifies advertising for small businesses. By understanding plain language goals, AI can help run campaigns without the complexity of traditional dashboards.
Why we care. ChatGPT ads promise a unique, high-intent channel where businesses can connect with users during their active conversations and decision-making processes. By focusing on relevance and AI-driven matching, the platform can lower the entry barrier for small to midsize advertisers while boosting performance for larger brands.
Should OpenAI succeed in cultivating a trusted ad environment, it could reshape how advertisers perceive discovery and customer engagement within AI-driven platforms.
What’s next. The initial ad tests will remain conservative, concentrating on utility and relevance before volume as OpenAI hones ad formats and placements.
The big picture. Through advertising, OpenAI aims to expand ChatGPT access while adhering to a trust-first design—a balance they assert is key to their long-term strategy.
Dig deeper. Watch the full interview with Assad Awan

Inspired by this post on Search Engine Land.
February 11, 2026
Harnessing First-Party Data for AI-Enhanced Ad Success

I recently discovered how crucial first-party data has become in the evolving landscape of AI-powered advertising. It’s fascinating to see how it shapes the optimization and measurement of automated ad campaigns.

During a chat with Search Engine Land, I learned from Julie Warneke, CEO of Found Search Marketing, about the profound impact first-party data has on profitable advertising, regardless of potential changes to Google’s third-party cookie policies.

Embracing first-party data means tapping into customer information that I own, typically stored in a CRM, like lead details, purchase history, revenue, and customer value collected from various touchpoints.

This type of data is distinct from platform-owned or browser-based data, over which I have limited control.

Digital advertising has evolved over the years. The shift from focusing on impressions and clicks to outcomes emphasizes profitable conversions, according to Warneke. Advertisers who provide AI systems with quality customer data gain a significant edge.

Although rising cost-per-clicks (CPCs) are inevitable in paid media, first-party data enhances conversion quality, revenue, and return on ad spend, making higher costs justifiable with better results.

By leveraging first-party data tied to revenue and customer value, AI bidding systems can target users resembling high-value customers, even beyond usual demographic or geographic signals, leading to better conversions.

Among campaign types, Performance Max (PMax) thrives with first-party data activation. It performs best when I shift from manual optimizations to feeding it accurate data, allowing the system to learn, as Warneke highlighted.

Even small and mid-sized businesses can leverage first-party data, as seen in Warneke’s examples of success with small customer lists. The challenge lies in setting up proper infrastructure for tracking, consent management, and data flow.

Common mistakes include weak data capture, where brands rely on browser-side tracking that falters on platforms like iOS, and broken feedback loops from sporadic CRM data uploads. Continuous data streams are crucial.

Warneke advises taking a step back to audit how data is captured, stored, and relayed to platforms. Incremental improvements can pave the way for significant long-term gains, even starting with a small portion of a budget as a test.

Ultimately, AI optimization reflects the quality of signals received. By refining first-party data, I can influence outcomes favorably, avoiding inefficiency risks.

Inspired by this post on Search Engine Land.

February 5, 2026
AI Chat Ads: Why Claude Stands Firm and ChatGPT Changes

I recently learned that Anthropic has made a firm decision regarding the inclusion of ads in AI chatbots. They’ve announced that Claude will remain ad-free, even as other AI platforms start experimenting with sponsored messages and branded placements during chats.
Anthropic argues that placing ads in AI chats would undermine user trust, distort incentives, and conflict with how people use assistants like Claude—for work, problem-solving, and sensitive topics. In their latest blog post, they clearly lay out their stance.
Why this matters to us. Anthropic’s decision effectively removes Claude and its 30 million users from the potential AI advertising market. So, brands shouldn’t count on having sponsored links, conversations, or responses inside Claude. Meanwhile, ChatGPT opens up a new frontier for brands to potentially connect with an estimated 800 million weekly users.
Here’s the situation. According to Anthropic, AI conversations are quite unlike search results or social feeds where users might expect a combination of organic and paid content. They emphasize that many interactions with Claude involve personal inquiries, complex technical tasks, or high-stakes decisions, where inserting ads would seem intrusive and could subtly sway responses beyond user awareness.
Incentives matter. This is more than a product preference; it’s a strategic business model decision for Anthropic:
An ad-free assistant can concentrate fully on user benefits—even if that means a brief interaction or no follow-up. On the flip side, an ad-supported model might create pressure to identify monetizable moments or keep users engaged longer than necessary, potentially making users question whether suggestions are genuinely helpful or commercially driven.
Anthropic embraces commerce without ads. While Claude will assist users in researching, comparing, and purchasing products upon request, the commerce is user-initiated, not advertiser-driven. Likewise, third-party integrations with platforms like Figma or Asana will be user-directed and free from sponsor influence.
Super Bowl declaration. Anthropic took their message to a wider audience with a bold Super Bowl ad campaign. They critiqued intrusive AI advertising by placing mock product pitches into personal conversations. The ad concluded robustly: “Ads are coming to AI. But not to Claude.”
This campaign is likely a direct response to OpenAI’s announcement about introducing ads in ChatGPT.
Check out the ad:
Claude’s recent blog post explains further. Feel free to check it out here: Claude is a space to think

Inspired by this post on Search Engine Land.

February 4, 2026
Unleashing Google Ads API v23: Discover Perf Max by Channel
Have you ever wondered where your Performance Max ads truly run? With the latest Google Ads API v23 update, we finally have the answer!

An exciting change has arrived with the v23 Ads API launch. Now, Performance Max campaign results can be broken down by channel, including Search, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail, Maps, and Search Partners. Previously, all your performance data was lumped together, obscuring critical insights.

Here’s the inside scoop. In earlier API versions, I always received a MIXED value for the ad_network_type segment in my Performance Max campaigns. But with v23, these results have transformed into distinct channel enums. It’s a major step forward for those of us who crave precision in reporting and optimization.

Why this matters to us. This update isn’t just about new features — it reshapes how we comprehend Performance Max. With channel-specific reporting now on the table, marketers gain much-needed clarity on where these ads are displayed.

How we can leverage this. Now, we can access channel-level data at the campaign, asset group, and even individual asset levels. This means we can observe how each creative piece performs across Google’s array of platforms. Coupled with v22 segments like ad_using_video and ad_using_product_data, the possibilities for optimizing video performance on YouTube or Shopping ads on Search are endless.

Attention, developers. Upgrading to v23 unveils a level of reporting detail that was previously unreachable. If your system relied on the old MIXED values, it’s time to gear up for the new channel enums.

Keep an eye out for:
- Channel data is accessible only for dates beginning June 1, 2025.
- Remember, asset group–level channel reporting remains exclusively within the API and is not visible in the Google Ads UI.
The takeaway. The newest Google Ads API rollout quietly transforms what was once a black-box campaign category into an analyzable channel-specific type. Finally, advertisers like you and me can dive into the metrics we’ve long sought.

Inspired by this post on Search Engine Land.
February 2, 2026
OpenAI Prepares for ChatGPT Ads: What You Need to Know

I’ve noticed something intriguing in the responses from ChatGPT lately. If you peek into the page source, there are references to ads, even though no actual ads appear on the screen. It reads: “InReply to user query using the following additional context of ads shown to the user.” This discovery got me thinking about what’s brewing behind the scenes.

Digital marketer Glenn Gabe was the first to draw attention to this on X, highlighting the presence of ad-related phrases within ChatGPT’s source code. Other users have confirmed similar findings when engaging with commercial queries like auto insurance. This hints that there’s more at play than meets the eye.

This development could mark a significant shift, transitioning ChatGPT ads from a concept to reality, opening up a brand new high-intent advertising channel. With code logic for ads in place, it appears that OpenAI is already experimenting with targeting and eligibility to benefit early advertisers.

Given the limited ad space, and assuming ads will be seamlessly integrated into conversational responses instead of traditional banners, we might be on the brink of accessing premium advertising real estate that competes directly with organic content.

While the ads are currently invisible, their underlying logic is evidently active. This suggests OpenAI might already be testing parameters like ad eligibility, suppression rules for paid tiers, or internal mechanisms, all in preparation for a larger rollout.

OpenAI acknowledged earlier this year that ads would be introduced to ChatGPT for select users. These ads are expected to be sold on an impression basis, hinting at potentially high costs for advertisers. The groundwork is clearly set, even if ads haven’t gone live yet.

For those keen on following this development, I recommend checking out Glenn Gabe’s tweet that showcases evidence suggesting the imminent arrival of ChatGPT ads.

Inspired by this post on Search Engine Land.

February 2, 2026

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